Mowing-machine.



v PATENTED MAR. 3, 1908.' G. W. BAGON.

No.1880,'771. PATENTED- MAILS, 1908. G W BACON MOWING MACHINE.

APPLIOATIoN FILED JUNE s. 1901,

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2,

arming GEORGE W. BACON, OF GRAND JUNCTION, COLORADO.

MOWING-MACHINE Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March 3, 1908.

Application filed June 5. 1907- Serial No. 377.445.

To all whom 'it 'may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. BACON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Grand Junction, in the county of Mesa and State of Colorado, have invented new and useful Improvements in Mowing-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to mowers, and reapers and particularly to that class thereof in which the cutting apparatus comprises a pair of bars carrying: knives which reciprocate in opposite directions so as to produce a shear cut.

The object of the invention is to provide improved means for driving the cutter bars; also improved means for supporting the finger bar and cutting apparatus so that it can be readily swung or folded up when not in use.

Further minor advantages of construction will be described and claimed.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a plan view of a mowing machine provided with the improvement. Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof. Fig. 3 is a section on the line 33 of Fig. 1.

The frame of the machine is preferably made of round metal or tubing and is indicated at 6, mounted upon an axle 7 which has wheels 8 provided with the usual clutches to transmit the motion to the axle in the driving direction. The tongue 9 is connected to the frame and the axle.

A shoe on which the front corner of the frame rides, and which also supports the inner end of the finger bar 10, is made in two pieces 11 and 12, the shoe being, split on a longitudinal line, one section, 11, being connected to the bars of the frame at lugs 13, and thefinger bar being bolted to the other section, as indicated at 14. The sec* tions are connected together by hinges 15 at front and rear ends, the knuckles of these hingesbeing raised a certain distance above the upper surface of the shoe. This hinged construction allows the outer section of the shoe to be folded to an upright position, with the finger bar, when said bar is turned up out of action. The axle 7 carries a sprocket wheel 16 which is connected by a belt i17 to a small sprocket 1S on a cross shaft 19. This latter shaft carries a wheel 20 having a cam groove 21, said wheel being located at the end of the shaft toward the shoe. The shaft is preferably mounted in cone bearings, that so to speak,

at one end, 22, being fixed, and that at the other end, 23, being supported by a lug 24 on the shoe section 11.

The cutter bars 25 of which there are two 60 arranged one upon the other, are connected at the inner end by hinged joints 26 to pitmen 27 which work through guides 28 on the fixed shoe section and which carry rollers 29 which project into the cam groove 21 on op- 65 posite sides of the wheel 20. Obviously rotation of the wheel causes reciprocation of the pitman and cutter bars. The hinged connections 26 are so located that they both lie in the line of the axis of the hinges 15, or rather they both lie in that aXis when they are both at the middle point of their throw, consequently when it is desired to fold up the finger bar the said'connections are brought to the middle position, and the finger bar can then loe lifted. Any of the usual levers or means employed for the purpose of lifting the front of the frame and the fin 'er bar may be used, and connected to the irame, as indicated at 36.

The knives 30 are bolted to the cutter bars 25 and slide in contact with each other with their cutting edges in touch, between guides formed by the guard fingers 31 and the upper guides 32, bolted to the finger bar10.

The outer shoe or divider 33 comprises a plate which stands edgewise and which is pivoted to the outer end of the finger bar by a pin 34 and rides upon front and rear rollers 35. The pivoted construction allows the di- .vider to accommodate itself to rough ground and the rollers assist its travel.

In the operation of the machine the motion of the main shaft 19 is communicated by means of the cam Wheel to the pitmen and cutter bars, causing them to reciprocate oppositely andthus shear the grass or grain. The knives rubbing against each other tend to be self-sharpening- When the finger bar is swung down the shoe sections 11 and 12 come in contact along their meeting edges and in connection with the hinges sustain the weight of the finger bar so that the bar may be lifted as in passing over stumps and the like without bringing great strain on the pitmen. Nevertheless the hinged construction of the shoe allows a certain amount of vertical vibration of the finger bar to accommodate inequalities in the ground without materially affecting the operation of the knives.

I claim:

1. The combination of a frame and a finger bar, a shoe section 'xed to the frame and to which the finger bar is hinged, guides on the shoe, a pair of reciprocating cutter bars, a shaft having bearings on the frame and on 5 the shoe, and a pair of pitrnen having operative connection to the shaft and slidable in the guides and hinged to the cutter bars. l

2. The Combination of a frame and a nger bar, a shoe fixed to the frame at one side 10 thereof, a reciprocating cutter bar on the nger bar, a shaft extending transversely across the frame and having bearings on the shoe and on the side of the frame opposite to the shoe, and a pitlnan having operative oonneotions to the shaft and to the cutter bar.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

GEORGE W. BACON. Witnesses:

EMORY F. PAQUETTE, FRED MANLEY. 

